engineering

Plymouth Building

Plymouth Building is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Plymouth Building rather than just read about it. In short: The Plymouth Building, now the Embassy Suites by Hilton Minneapolis Downtown, is a 12-story building in Minneapolis. Built 1910–1911, it was touted as the world's largest all reinforced concrete office building at the time it was constructed.

Key takeaways

Plymouth Building belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Plymouth Building to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Plymouth Building from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Plymouth Building, now the Embassy Suites by Hilton Minneapolis Downtown, is a 12-story building in Minneapolis. Built 1910–1911, it was touted as the world's largest all reinforced concrete office building at the time it was constructed. In 1936, the building's exterior was renovated, removing much of the ornamentation and beaux arts styling in favor of a cleaner and more modern appearance. This style of architecture (somewhat typical of government buildings in the 1930s) is sometimes called "starved classicism." In 2014, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on the basis of its unique construction methods. Later that year plans were released to convert the building from office space to a boutique hotel. On August 25, 2016, the Plymouth Building re-opened as part of Embassy Suites by Hilton. It has 290 guest suites, 9,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as a connection to the Lyon's Pub next door.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Plymouth Building

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Plymouth Building claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Plymouth Building before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Plymouth Building ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Plymouth Building

In research: Plymouth Building appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Plymouth Building in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Plymouth Building is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1911 establishments in Minnesota, Buildings and structures completed in 1911, Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Plymouth Building outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Plymouth Building in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Plymouth Building means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Plymouth Building out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Plymouth Building in simple terms?

Why does Plymouth Building matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Plymouth Building?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Plymouth Building.